Long lines for fuel in Gaza as energy crisis continues

Palestinians wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began transferring emergency supplies of fuel to the Gaza Strip where an electricity crisis has hit medical services hard.

Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images

Palestinians wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012.

Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images

A Palestinian boy waits along with other residents wait in a queue to fill containers with fuel at a petrol station in Gaza City on April 2, 2012.

AP reports: At the root of the two-month-old crisis is a standoff between Hamas and neighboring Egypt over the delivery and payment for fuel.

Fuel smuggled from Egypt through tunnels under the border used to be the main source of energy for Gaza, including the territory's only power station that provides 60 percent of the electricity.

Hamas now wants Egypt to deliver fuel to Gaza through a passage above ground, trying to establish a precedent Hamas hopes could evolve into a full-fledged trade route with Egypt.